DigiLing: Trans-European e-Learning Hub for Digital Linguistics Erasmus Project

Project Title

DigiLing: Trans-European e-Learning Hub for Digital Linguistics

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Inclusion – equity; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

DigiLing created a transnational e-learning hub for Digital Linguistics containing online core modules covering the essential skills and competencies as identified through the labour market survey. Digital Linguistics is a new interdisciplinary field which develops knowledge and skills for understanding, processing and exploiting language content in the digital era. At the beginning of the project no European university offered a curriculum in this field, at the time of conclusion we are aware of only one related masters programme at the University of Zurich. The relevance of Digital Linguistics is growing even more rapidly than expected at the beginning of the project, as traditional language services such as translation and interpreting are being increasingly replaced by digitally enhanced solutions.

The DigiLing consortium consisted of 5 university partners (University of Ljubljana, University of Zagreb, Charles University, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, University of Leeds) and 1 industry partner (Lexical Computing CZ, a leading developer of e-lexicography tools and services). The partnership connected experts and institutes from different fields (translation, multimedia, information science, computer science, corpus linguistics), which was essential given the interdisciplinary nature of Digital Linguistics.

The DigiLing objectives were as follows:
1. Create a model curriculum for Digital Linguistics by analysing employers’ needs and identifying key competences and skills of future graduates. This was achieved by conducting a trans-European survey among employers and identifying gaps in existing curricula during the first 6 months of the project. A model curriculum was designed, furthermore a consortium of 3 university partners was formed to implement the new curriculum as a joint master programme in Digital Linguistics (awaiting accreditation).
2. Train the teachers in relevant disciplines in the use of authoring tools and in the design of high quality online learning materials. This was achieved first by organising a one week intensive hands-on training at Leeds University with the aid of their centre for e-learning, and second by intense collaboration between partners throughout the project.
3. Design online courses for selected modules; localize, evaluate, test and implement. DigiLing created 7 full online courses, each consisting of 10 or more learning units and equaling 3-5 ECTS. The titles of courses are as follows: Variability of Languages in Time and Space, Introduction to Text Processing and Analysis, Post-Editing Machine Translation, Introduction to Python for Linguists, Computational Lexicology and Lexicography, Localisation Tools and Workflows, Mining and Managing Multilingual Terminology. All courses were developed in English and some have been localised into partner languages. Several rounds of evaluation and testing were performed to ensure quality, accessibility and sustainability of e-learning resources. The project established an e-learning platform (https://learn.digiling.eu) where the full courses are freely available upon registration. In addition, a YouTube channel was set up where all the video resources are available for public use under the CC-BY license.
4. Disseminate and sustain.
DigiLing results have been publicized to a broad network of stakeholders, the widest academic community and the public at large including special needs students. Word about the project reached an estimated audience of 100.000 people, and the DigiLing e-learning resources bring potential long-term benefit for anyone studying or planning to study at any language- or IT-related study programme.

The project results have had the following impact:
– At the local, regional and national levels we improved digital skills of HE teachers and students, promoting the use of e-learning and opening up education. We created a solution for inclusive online learning by providing open multilingual e-learning courses accessible also to special needs students. We improved the quality of HE by building an international network of excellence and promoting (real and virtual) mobility, by using multi-tiered evaluation of teaching and learning, by promoting entrepreneurial activities through our industrial partner and DigiLing users from the language industry. At the national, international and EU levels we contributed to the strategic goals as described in the Opening Up Education, Modernisation Agenda, ET2020, the Paris declaration and other strategic documents.

The main longer-term benefit is the new Joint Master Programme in Digital Linguistics with 3 university partners (Ljubljana, Zagreb, Brno). This interdisciplinary programme, only the 2nd of its kind in Europe, brings together institutes, professors and experts from different fields within the highest form of international collaboration in HE, and represents an important step towards a better and more future-aware university education.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 224749,99 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI & Country: SI

Project Partners

• JOHANNES GUTENBERG-UNIVERSITAT MAINZ
• SVEUCILISTE U ZAGREBU
• UNIVERZITA KARLOVA
• LEXICAL COMPUTING CZ SRO
• UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS